About REBECCA PRIESTLEY
I’m a science historian and writer. I write about all sorts of things, but I’m mostly interested in New Zealand’s science history, about which I’ve curated two exhibitions, The Art of Science and Butterflies, Boffins & Black Smokers. I write a regular science column for The Listener, which you can read here, and I’ve completed four books, which you can read more about here. I’m now working on an anthology of Antarctic science, which should be finished ... soon and trying to decide between two new book projects: a worthy history of science biography and a fun contemporary science story. Perhaps I'll do both. I mostly blog when I'm adventuring - most of these posts are from recent trips to Antarctica and the Kermadec Islands.-
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Category Archives: History of science
Galileo in Florence
This story first appeared in The Listener, issue 3688, 15 January 2011. I’d come a long way to see Galileo’s arthritic middle finger, but recognised the great 17th-century astronomer’s aged appendage – displayed in a gilt-edged glass egg in a … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Travel
Tagged florence, galileo, museum, prosecco, santa croce
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Kermadecs voyage #1: On the HMNZS Canterbury
In 1955, when the US and USSR were involved in a nuclear arms race, the British Prime Minister asked New Zealand’s permission to test hydrogen bombs in the Kermadecs, a small group of islands about 800 km north of Auckland. … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Kermadecs, Travel
Tagged Blake Trust, HMNZS Canterbury, Kermadecs, Navy, rum
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Charles Fleming and his singing cicadas
This story originally appeared on my Pundit blog here. I’ve never quite understood why, but it’s the most-viewed thing I’ve ever written. Cicadas are as much a mainstay of a New Zealand summer as the sound of surf and a game of … Continue reading
